The women were performing a play against human trafficking in Jharkhand state when they were abducted and gang-raped.

At least five women working for an NGO have been abducted and gang-raped at gunpoint in eastern India's Jharkhand state, police have said.

"An FIR (First Information Report) and a statement in court have been lodged. We are trying to identify the criminals. Our probe is ongoing," Ashwini Kumar Sinha, superintendent of police in Khunti, said.

"A team of street play artists had gone to perform in a school in Kochan, the remotest area of Khunti when some men came and threatened them. Nine men and women were abducted. Five women were raped while the men were beaten," he said.

The women were performing a play raising awareness of human trafficking in the Khunti district on Tuesday when armed men abducted them at gunpoint, it was reported on Friday.

Attackers filmed the assault and used the video to blackmail the women not to go to the police.